Consumers Have Heard of Clearasil, but Reckitt? Not so Much

Contest in Six Countries Aimed at Building Awareness of Corporate Brand

LONDON (AdAge.com) -- Consumer-package-goods giant Reckitt Benckiser is trying to combat low awareness of its corporate brand by targeting younger consumers and challenging them to come up with ideas for a new product.

The company, which makes products from Clearasil spot cream to French's Mustard, found that only 3% of U.K. consumers recognize the Reckitt Benckiser brand.

Consumers across the U.S., U.K., Brazil, Russia, Germany and India will battle it out this fall to win $8,000 by coming up with an idea for a product that can be used at a music festival. Entries can be uploaded as video presentations to a dedicated competition microsite.

Reckitt Benckiser is working on the initiative with Euro RSCG Riley, and will decide whether to go into production with the product only after the winner has been chosen.

"It's all part of a bigger campaign to raise the profile of the company and put across a message of innovation and new-product development -- to underline the fact that new ideas are part of our culture," a company spokeswoman said. "Around 40% of Reckitt's sales come from products launched in the last three years."

"Our brands are well-known, but our name is not," she added. "To enter the competition, people will have to go to our website and really look at what we do. This is a way to encourage people to find out how we operate.

"A lot of it is recruitment driven -- we want people to have Reckitt on their radar when thinking about employment."

In March the company introduced a new corporate identity with a kite-shaped logo, but the design does not feature on its consumer products or in its advertising.